Indiana drops first home game in over a year

WHAT HAPPENED: Wisconsin was good enough playing its slow-down game to keep No. 2 Indiana from playing its uptempo style and pulled off the upset with a 64-59 win over the Hoosiers in front of 17,472 at Assembly Hall on Tuesday.

The Hoosiers fell to 15-2 overall, 3-1 in the Big Ten, and will likely slide back down in the polls on Monday after climbing up to No. 2 from No. 5 this week. The Badgers (13-4, 4-0) take sole possession of first place in the conference.

It was the Hoosiers’ 11th straight loss to Wisconsin in the series. However, it also snapped a six-game winning streak going back to Indiana’s loss to Butler on Dec. 15, and it was Indiana’s first loss at Assembly Hall since their 77-74 loss to Minnesota on Jan. 12, 2012. The Hoosiers had won 18 straight at home.

WHO MADE IT HAPPEN: Wisconsin had four players in double figures. Senior forward Ryan Evans led the group with 13 points to go with eight rebounds, and also hit a critical off-balance, late-in-the-shot-clock jumper late in the game to stem an Indiana run.

IU sophomore center Cody Zeller had perhaps his most dominant half as a collegian with 18 points on 8-for-8 shooting in the first half, but the Badgers held him to 1-for-7 shooting in the second half and he finished with 23 points as well as 10 rebounds. Senior forward Christian Watord had 11 points and junior guard Victor Oladipo had 10, but no one else scored in double figures. Hulls and Ferrell were a combined 4-for-16. The bench scored a total of two points after scoring just three against Minnesota.

WHY DID IT HAPPEN: Wisconsin played it’s brand of basketball and made sure the Hoosiers could not get out in transition at all.

Indiana tried to full-court press to try to hurry the pace and create turnovers. That didn’t help much, as the Badgers only gave it away eight times, which is actually below their Division I-best average. The Hoosiers therefore scored just seven points off turnovers and three points on fast-breaks.

So that left the Hoosiers in a half-court setting most of the time and it didn’t go well. They couldn’t get perimeter looks, couldn’t find space to drive, and couldn’t find anything in the mid-range either. Across the board it was their worst offensive performance. They made just 37.0 percent of their field goals (20-for-54) and 25.0 percent of their 3-point attempts (3-for-12). They were able to get it to Zeller in the post in the first-half, but in the second half, the Badgers made sure he was always facing double-teams and generally having lots of guys in his vicinity anytime Indiana even thought of giving him the ball. They almost totally snuffed out the pick-and-roll game, and the Hoosiers basically had no offensive recourse.

On the other end, the Badgers were able to beat Indiana off the dribble, get into the lane and also find drive and kick options. The Badgers didn’t have a great shooting night, but did hit seven 3-pointers and 45.1 percent of their field goals, which was plenty on a night when scoring — as it always is in Wisconsin games — was at a premium.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN: The Hoosiers will assuredly fall in the polls and they’ve taken a costly loss at home in a league where it is very difficult to win on the road. Wisconsin now has a one-game advantage on the rest of the league, and even though the Badgers started slow, the rest of the teams in the conference certainly can’t be pleased to see that.

That being said, the Hoosiers can look at one partial bright side — they don’t have to play Wisconsin in Madison this year, and the only other team that will be so dedicated in their attempt to slow Indiana down will be Nebraska, a team that doesn’t have nearly the talent Wisconsin does. On some level, the Hoosiers may have provided a blueprint for how they can be defeated. It’s best to make them spend as much time in a half-court setting as possible. Conference play is by its nature significantly slower, so the Hoosiers were never going to be able to consistently run the way they did against North Carolina and other non-conference foes, and this gives teams even more of a reason to try to limit possessions. But no one is as dedicated to playing slow and as philosophically committed to that objective — in the way it recruits and the way it schemes for every single game — as the Badgers are, so it’s unlikely that any other team will be able to grind it out to this degree.

WHO SAID WHAT:

Tom Crean

“First and foremost, we just didn’t make enough shots. Tonight when we weren’t making enough shots, especially ones taht were open, we also didn’t come down and stay as disciplined as we needed to be defensively. They beat us off the dribble a little bit , and the first half, our main problem was that we were holding our rotations too long and over-helping on defense, which is something you don’t need to do against Wisconsin. What Wisconsin does is they bait you with their drives and they beat you with their kicks, and we didn’t do a good job against that. When we over-helped they made shots. In the second half, they made some shots at the end of the shot clock that reminded me of the McDonald’s, Michael Jordan/Larry Bird H-O-R-S-E commercials. When you get momentum going, it’s amazing what can happen.”

“We were not consistent. We had guys that played too hurried and too rushed. We had guys that didn’t cut and move the way you need to cut and move. Sometimes you need to cut and move just to move the defense.”

“We missed a lot of shots,” IU coach Tom Crean said. “We missed 34 shots. A lot of things gotta go right for you if you missed 34 shots. … It’s gonna cut into your possessions. You gotta shoot the ball well against Wisconsin. That’s part of it. When teams play well against them, they shoot the ball well against them, and we didn’t.”

Cody Zeller

ON getting fewer looks in the second half

“They were clogging up the middle more. But it was the same thing. Shots not falling.”

Victor Oladipo

“We didn’t really defend the dribble well. They were getting in the lane, and making tough shots and stuff like that.”

58 comments

1. I would LOVE to go back up to Madison and play them again. Wisconsin is tough, obviously, but they played about as well as they could possibly play. I was a little surprised at their relatively low shooting percentages, because it seemed at times they were hitting everything they threw up– especially the end-of-shot-clock Hail Mary’s. We play again, and it’s probably a different outcome. Plus, I don’t want our seniors going out having never dined on Badger meat.

2. I’m not sure this is the blueprint for how we can be defeated. If you said this last week, you’d probably be saying the blueprint was to press us. And UW had two completely different strategies. First half was to deny the perimeter. When Cody destroyed them inside, they clogged the middle and made us shoot from outside. The latter was the more effective strategy tonight, but I doubt teams are going to count on us missing 75% of our threes and just about all of our midrange jumpers.

I think this is as good a blueprint for beating IU as any. Here’s the caveat – there are only a handful of teams in the country who play Wisconsin’s style. FSU comes to mind. Ohio State plays a similar brand this year out of necessity due to a lack of offensive options. How many other teams have enough talent and size to succeed in that style against IU?

Now if you’re talking about a team that has talent and size to compete with IU employing a slow it down, grind it out style for one game to try to beat us… then I would have serious questions about the team’s discipline and ability to carry out that gameplan when it’s not their normal style.

Wisconsin lives and breathes what they did last night. They do it every game of every season. They don’t change it to match up with an opponent.

I guess I’m just not that worried about some team playing out of character in the tournament and doing it so well, with so much discipline, and hitting such big tough pressure shots at the end of the shot clock that they pull an upset against us. Seems unlikely.

Agreed. Wisconsin is a severe matchup problem for us, especially with such a limited options. But I still think if we play 10 games against them this year, we win 6 or 7 based on the usual production from our bench that just wasn’t there this time.We’ll probably split with OSU, too. But unless you’re tailor-made to play this style of game, I don’t see many teams trying it out.

Let’s just hope we don’t have this type of matchup nightmare on the tourney. When it’s all on the line, we do to want to rely on jumpsuits in a half-court offense as our only source of production.

Very disappointing loss. If we can’t get out and run, we are in trouble. The half court offense is a mess. The bench has been nonexistent the past few games. If there was anyone that was suited to match up with Wisconsin, it was Will Sheehey and he was no where to be found. I saw swagger out of the Badgers (that’s what happens when you own a team) while I saw fear out of the Hoosiers. The defense wasn’t really that bad last night although I saw way more blocking fouls than I normally see. It was like we were a step slow on their drives. They hit free throws at the end that pushed up the score (So much for being a bad free throw shooting team).

Back to the half court offense though. It’s so predictable. We don’t set screens other than the high ball screen that Zeller sets practically every play. We don’t set screens to free up Hulls or any of our shooters or Zeller down low. We don’t make adjustments at all especially at the beginning of the second half. Does Crean not realize that the other team is going to make sure Zeller is going to have a harder time getting the ball? Other coaches aren’t stupid but they sure make our coaching staff look so. We are more athletic than Wisconsin is but the IQ and consistency is lacking for this team. It’s like we are missing that glue guy down low. The guy that does all the dirty work setting the screens, getting the rebounds, playing great defense. Watford isn’t that guy and it hurts us in physical games. Hulls is the same way in a physical game because his specialty of hitting shots is worthless if we can’t get him open. Hulls should be handling the ball less as he struggles bringing the ball up the floor against pressure and he struggles against bigger players trying to create his own shot. Luckily Wisconsin wasn’t that athletic otherwise they would have killed Hulls off the drive too. Crean does him no favors with this offense.

I still think we are a good team. We definitely haven’t peaked yet but I thought we would have learned more from the Butler loss who played a similar style. We can still win the conference but we are going to have to get a game that we didn’t think we were going to get before (i.e. Minnesota or Michigan) or get some help somewhere else.

I am really wondering if IU is a better overall team this year than last. Subtract VJ, Pritch, Roth, Healthy Elston from last year’s group and the only thing we have to add back in is Yogi. Yogi is better than VJ but by himself is he enough to make up for the other losses.

I don’t see any improvement in CWat, Hulls, Will, or Remy. Now that we are playing league games, these players have slid back to their level of play from last year. VO is definitely better and Cody is stronger but has also been inconsistent at times. The rest of the movement are not ready to help this year and Elston and Creek are going to miss most of the season with injuries.

I am beginning to believe that finishing where we did last year is probably about as good as it gets for this team. I love the kids. Great attitude, go to class, etc. but just don’t see these kids able to compete at a championship level.

I am not sure why elston was just not redshirted given he has missed half of the season already. The movement was way way overhyped. I would agree finishing like last year is about as good as it will get. Probably a 4 or 5 seed in the tourney.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but we could use some more injury updates. I get on here pretty regularly now, but I rarely see much more than “Elston/Creek could return next game” when it comes to how are guys doing. We’ve seen that for a few games now. What are their real statuses?

And what about the freshman? Hollowell played well in limited time, and Parea shows glimpses of promise when we realize he’s in the game. At least he’s an inside presence four 90 seconds at a time. That t could prove invaluable, like it has for most of the last three halves when our jump-shooting has failed us.

#11 was Laffy’s most astute comment of the year. IU’s bench has been a huge liability the last two games. They either need to pick up their offensive productivity or be content with setting up their teammates’ offense. The bench is hurting the team badly.

Just to add to the excellent comments here. What’s up with Hulls? He hasn’t been much of a factor lately either and he was forcing way too many shots last night. IMHO he is also a liability on defense. Last night was such a frustrating game to watch, because you know these kids a capable of so much more and they were at home and couldn’t defend their own court! Go Hoosiers!!!

I know we lost and we will lose more and hopefully we will learn from them and get better, but I never want to hear about how Zeller played like a little girl against Butler! Enough is enough, he has taken on 2 of the big ten’s toughest team down low and held more than his own. Last night he had a double double with 23 points and 10 rebounds against Berggren who owned him last year. This year he had 5 point and 4 rebounds. He also held his own against Mbakwe and Minn. He has learned to play tougher and the 1st half he was great. So it is time to move on off of Cody. Now our bench has disappeared. We can win Big Ten games without our starters getting some rest and we can not have a drop off in play Will, Remy and Company need to step up. Also our “star Point Guard” can’t have a games with only 1 assist. He shoots poorly already and he has to make up for it with assists and defense. We are 15-2 with a lot of game left to get better so go Hoosiers.

Crean put them up there by not playing Cody last play of the game. Why was Cody (zero fouls) not there at that point? Soon you will see Wisconsin #13 and rolling. Guess why (they are not ranked right now like Butler was unranked when they played us.)

I never said he was the best player in America! I said it is time for u to stop calling him a little girl because of 1 bad game. I really don’t know why I am trying to reason with someone who is unreasonable. My bad. Please continue with your worthless ranting about how bad Cody and this team are, in your opinion, and we will see when March rolls around how really good or bad they are because that is when it counts not losing to Butler or Wisc. but how well we do in March madness.

By all means, go ahead and continue your rants since it is clear trying to be rational with you is impossible, but I would ask that you quit referring to poor play by CZ and our team as “playing like a girl” or “playing like a little girl” or “playing like a bunch of girls.” It is insulting to women. Just because they are generally not as athletically gifted as men, does not make them any less an athlete, or competitors, or any less physical when they play basketball, hockey, soccer, or any other sport. They compete as hard, if not harder than men, knowing that their careers will likely end after high school or college. Male chauvinism really does not look good on anyone.

Again, you missed the point. Of course women would get destroyed against men in basketball. I am not disputing that. But when you say “playing like a girl”, you are insinuating the player or players is/are playing with less effort, not playing physical, and not playing up to his/their potential. That is the sexist part. How hard is it to avoid using such language?

At least some of you are beginning to realize thar CreaN IS NOT A VERY GOOD x and o,s coach, probably a very nice person but he,s not a very good basketball coach. Never adjusts his game plan {if he has one} and his recruiting class for 2012 is turning out to be a joke, I think he is a complete distraction on the sideline, he needs to sit down and think about what is going on.

I would say it is too early to establish whether “The Movement” is a bust or not, seeing as they all are still freshmen. Some may have placed too high of expectations on them to perform. It certainly did not help that Perea and Jurkin missed the first 9 games of the season due to ineligibility. Now, if none pan out in the next couple of years, then yes, it will be safe to say they were a bust.

As for Crean being a questionable in-game coach, there is some validity to that. I find myself wondering at times what he is doing (I generally hate when IU switches into zone at any time), but I also know that he has brought us back from rags to near-riches in a short time. I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for a handful more years before deciding whether he was a bad hire or not. So far, I lean towards a strong “NO!” in that regard.

It’s a little early to be calling the ’12 recruiting class a joke. Some people may have expected them all to come and out and rule the court since day 1, but we’re not Kentucky– designed to sink or swim with rookies. This season was always going to be mostly dominated by our veterans.

At the beginning of the year, I cringed every time Hollowell touched the ball, a la VJ last year. but now that he’s not an instant turnover machine, I’m getting more and more excited to see him come in the game. He’s going to be a good player for us. And Parea is in, what, his 8th game? Jury’s still out on him. He reminds me a lot of Andre Patterson, who was maddening to fans because of the hype, his huge talent and physical presence, but inconsistent play. Parea will have huge days ahead of him, but I imagine he’ll also be the topic of much fodder when he disappears in games. Call it a hunch.

😉 No worries, Punjab. I think a lot of posters are skipping over nearly every post on this website right now, expecting it to be negative in nature and having nothing to do with basketball. Glad we’re on the same page.

THAT is what kind of post you should make everytime. A lot of posters on here will have no problem civilly discussing their agreements or disagreements when you make posts like that.

Also, when it offends someone, how hard is it to stop? Honest question. I just find it silly that when you can post insightful posts that you need to add all the “extra” stuff that is sexist and/or offensive in nature.

Very few people here doubt you have a good basketball mind, they just doubt that you can formulate your opinions in a civil, reasonable manner that provokes civil, reasonable responses.

southport65 and psych,
You are both astute in your observations and I think you (and the rest of the Scoop) would be well served by acting upon them.

BTW, if you don’t think women can compete you need to find more competitive women. My daughter has a lot of fun toying with people with that mentality on the basketball or volleyball court, and those aren’t even her best sports.

I need to clarify myself. The average man is going to be “better” than the average woman at any given sport when given the same conditions (same amount of practice, etc.) That does not mean anything, other than that God, the spaghetti monster, or whatever force created humans, generally made men physically stronger (although I would guess having children takes a wee bit more energy/physical ability than dunking a basketball).
I am well aware of (and not ashamed to admit) the fact that there are plenty of women who are better than me at running, my favorite “sport” to do nowadays. Hell, one of my ex-girlfriends in college used to go on training runs with me and kick my ass. I could beat her in races, but only at shorter (1500m and lower) distances. Anything above that, and I was toast. Granted, she was an All-American, and I was a subpar runner, but who cares? I would never say “I ran like a girl today” if I raced poorly.

Probably the second favorite hockey team I follow (native Minnesotan here) is the Minnesota Golden Gophers women’s hockey team. If you want to see a dominant force in sports, go look at their numbers. Astounding.

It is apparent you do not have children, much less girls. I do not have children either, but if you ever have daughters (like Chet, and I am sure countless others on here do), go ahead and look at your daughter in the eye when she is old enough to understand, and tell her that “Playing like a girl” is an insult to a boy, and means that he is playing inferior, subpar, or with less effort than he is capable of. I am sure you will be even more eager to convince me that it is not offensive to women everywhere. Stick to what you’re good at: analyzing (in a non-offensive manner) that ins-and-outs of basketball.

Thank God I didn’t see this debacle of a game due to my travels in China this week. From the looks of it, I may have needed a straight jacket.

The key to beating a slow tempo team is to get out to a great start and get them behind. Once that is done, you can cruise and make them play your up-&-down style. That’s the way it works. We had a halftime lead, scored the first bucket and then didn’t finish the job it appears. Another dud of a 2nd half in back-to-back games.

I completely agree with the commentary on Crean’s +s and -s. He’s a great recruiter, makes kids go to class, has lots of energy, etc…. But CLEARLY he gets out-maneuvered during the game & especially at halftime by savvier coaches. He’s been out-coached the last 2 ballgames and in the Butler game. No coincidence we’ve lost all 3 of those. Tubby went to the press in the 2H of the MN game, Ryan stayed with their scheme and devised a way to stop Z in the 2H and Stevens is a coaching genius anyway knowing full well his team could manhandle ours. He’s the only one who embarrassed Crean for a full 45 minutes. My mom is 68 years old and turns 69 next weekend, and she’s seen a lot of basketball and she picks up on this same point.

IU needs a better half-court offense. We should & need to have an answer to a half-court ballgame. It is called running Hulls off of low screens to the 3 point line ala Steve Alford. Hulls needs to shoot the ball at least 12 – 14 times a ballgame and get to the line at least 6 times. Period. With Hulls working to get open we have 2 extremely quick and athletic guards (Oladipo and Yogi) who can outdrive their defenders and either go to the hole or kick the ball to Hulls on the wing. CWat can shoot the ball too so he’s a great 2nd 3 pt. option flashing after picks for Hulls. And we have one of the country’s best big guys rolling to the hole as well. He apparently can shoot the ball from mid-range as well, but we never get to see that side of him in a game. If we get him open and let him take that shot it opens up a whole new dimension for this team. Add Sheehey to the mix for his post-screen mid range jump shots on the baseline, and I’d say we have a formidable half-court team should we get faced with that from time to time.

BEWARE!!! NW is approaching. Talk about a team that plays half court and limits possessions. Hopefully this is getting fixed this week.

And I’ll end this rant with a “rule of thumb” I’ve used regarding true championship teams. They very rarely lose on their home court/field.

If the Minny game were nip and tuck and we hit a 3 pointer at the buzzer everyone would be fine. Probably thrilled. But since we jumped to a big lead and ended up winning by, what, 7, some people are acting like we lost.

No, the only people that “would be thrilled” are those “simple” fans who only look at the score as their gauge of how a team is doing instead of the “sophisticated” fans who actually look at what’s happening on the floor.

How many times do I have to say, “I really don’t give a crap about wins and losses but how we actually play” for you to freaking get it?

We could lose every damn game of the season but if we played our best, I wouldn’t complain ONCE.

Chet, you know perfectly well — or should know, at any rate — that the final score is not the only barometer of a team’s play. Had IU gutted out a close game and pulled away late to beat Minnesota by 7, of course it would have seemed like a solid victory. But that’s not what happened. We were outscored by 20 points in a roughly 18 minute stretch of the second half, and completely seized up with the game on the line. You can say a win is a win, but hanging on for a victory in which every phase of our game broke down for an extended stretch is not the same as playing tough for 40 minutes and prevailing at the end.

When the team sucked for 3 years, I didn’t complain about losses if the team gave it’s best effort.

And it’s the same today. I really don’t give a crap about “wins”…it’s HOW we’re playing based on our ability.

Heck, I could be more satisfied….could be…..with the team that only won 10 games because they didn’t have much talent but busted their butts every game than this team who has all the talent in the world but plays slop/lazy ball and doesn’t come close to living up to it’s potential.

So, Minny storms back from 23 down and cut it to, was it 3 or 4, and then the Hoosiers added to the cushion to win by seven. That included a couple truly clutch plays, such as Cody tipping Jordy’s missed free throw back into his hands so he could seal the victory with free throws.

Hey, I’d have LOVED to see us bury such a good team by 50 but saying they “completely seized up with the game on the line” is simply false. If they had, in using those words, they obviously would have lost the game.

Now, if you say they went cold from the field and the line, or they made some foolish turnovers, or any thing else that might have some basis in reality, that’s completely fair.

But to say “completely seized up with the game on the line” in a game where they widened their lead in the waning seconds while picking up a when is just factually untrue.

Yes, Chet, we completely seized up with the game on the line. With 4:36 to go, we were ahead by 15. With 18 seconds to go, we were ahead by 3. All in all in we gave up a 19-7 in just over 4 minutes. During that stretch we missed 5 out of 11 free throws, had 4 turnovers, gave up 4 offensive rebounds, and committed our third foul of the day on a three point shot. There was not a single phase of our game that didn’t break down during that stretch, including our coaching.

So yes, we hung on to win, and Cody certainly deserves credit not only for the tip you mention, but for two huge blocks during that same stretch. But everyone and everything else seized up, and if you were there, as I was, you could feel it palpably in the air. The only thing that saved us, other than Cody, was that Minnesota ran out of time and had to begin fouling.

Well, say the Hoosiers “completely seized up with the game on the line” if you wish.

Sportswriters, who have editors that insist of certain levels of accuracy, don’t seem to be describing it in that manner. A common phrase I’ve been hearing stated that the Hoosiers were able to “hang on to win”.

We “hung on” in the same way a boxer who is on the mat is saved by the bell. I have been attending IU basketball games since the early 80s, and have experienced thrilling victories and painful losses. I have never left Assembly Hall with quite the same queasy feeling as I did that day.

You know, I been going for a long time, too. Actually, a bit longer, but that’s neither here nor there. The ’76 team had some games that weren’t artistry. The ’81 team was barely watchable…often. As I recall they were notable for having lost more games than any previous NCAA champion.

At the end of the day a win is a win. Sure, you can analyze it to death but, hey, that’s what we pay the coaches for.

Bask in the sunshine a little bit. Enjoy dodging the bullet. Rather play to potential and lose than dodge a bullet and win?

Sure you would.

Come March nobody but obsessive will remember the play by play. It’s all good.

Chet, you’re babbling. I made no general assertions about this team, I just observed that we melted down in the closing moments of a game. You seem determined to argue that fact or at least equivocate, so I’ll play along.

What happened against Minnesota was among the most complete end-of-game breakdowns in the history of the program. Go through your annals and find a worse last 4+ minutes, ever. I’ll warrant there haven’t been 5 in the last 60 years. Let me know if you can identify more.

Bird Brain: second half Minny-IU: 52-36. At home. And it could have been worse. That’s what you get if you fortify yourself with cupcakes. Flaaaa-aaab. OK? That’s what you get when you have a coach like Tom Crean. He’s going to ruin this team.